


'cause it's not what it seems

by flickerfonds



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Compliant, Headcanon, I hope y'all like it I guess, M/M, Post-Canon, this is my first actual fic thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 00:33:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15569820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerfonds/pseuds/flickerfonds
Summary: based on a prompt from @exyprompts on tumblr -- okay but like an outside pov of the Minyard-Josten Rivalry where they’ve recently been transferred to the same team and the team is really edgy and tries to keep them away from each other, but then they get put in the same hotel room for an away game (obviously they request this) and the whole team goes through all of these antics to separate them because they think it is a mistakeTM





	'cause it's not what it seems

**Author's Note:**

> hey y'all so this is my first fic type thing so I hope y'all enjoy I guess?? also there is a mention of a character beating a wife (nothing explicit, legit just a sentence) and drake's name is used once (nothing he does is mentioned or implied). have fun reading!! also big thanks to @demi-jost-10 on tumbr for proofreading this for me

Quite frankly, when Rachel Stuart found out Neil Josten was transferring to the Denver Lions Exy team, she was terrified.

Obviously, as a striker, she was thrilled to play with one of, if not the fastest striker in professional Exy, but she was not thrilled to have to deal with the Minyard-Josten rivalry in the slightest. Minyard on his own was bad enough, but combined with Neil “attitude problem” Josten, she wasn’t sure how either of them were going to survive the season.

Rachel just hoped that the Lions wouldn’t be down two players before the season even started.

 

The first practice of the season went only slightly better than expected. Instead of breaking out into a fistfight halfway through the first practice like expected, Neil had taken to yelling at  
Andrew across the court in what sounded like German, and Andrew had yelled back just as loudly. It was the most anyone on the team had heard him talk, save for the one time a reporter brought up the name “Drake Spear”. Now THAT had been fun for the Lions’ PR team.

When a backliner had tried to ask Minyard about Neil, he had simply pulled a knife out of nowhere and pushed him up against a wall. Nobody asked Andrew about Neil again.

 

Practices for the following month continued in a similar fashion, and while Rachel’s fear of the pair had decreased slightly, she was still cautious of the two, as any sensible person would be. Now, on the bus to the first game of the season, Rachel was feeling fine.

Coach had begun to read out hotel room assignments, and due to limited space, people were pairing up. 

“And in room 218, Minyard and Josten.”

The second coach said that, the whole bus broke out in violent whispers, everyone confused as to WHY those two would be paired together, and if they would actually be able to make it to the game without strangling each other. Nobody had seen the pair peacefully interact for more than 5 minutes at a time, so everyone was, naturally, freaking out.

Meanwhile, Andrew and Neils faces remained unreadable. If the two were outraged at having to room together or delighted, nobody could tell, and nobody wanted to ask.

When the bus had parked and everyone was getting off to head up to their rooms, a dealer approached Neil.

From a few yards away, Rachel overheard their conversation.

“So, you and Minyard are rooming together,”

“Yeah.”

“And…”

“And what.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Why the fuck do you care?”

With Neil’s stony delivery of the last sentence, the dealer, and really anyone within a few foot radius of Neil could tell that his “attitude problem” wasn’t just some sort of publicity trick, and that anyone who valued their pride in the slightest should probably steer clear of Neil. Unfortunately, a goalie sub didn’t get that memo.

“Josten, you actually wanna room with that monster? Damn, you must really have a hard on for cold, emotionless assholes. But you know what they say, you’re most attracted to people who remind you of yourself.”

The second the goalie had finished that sentence and Neil looked up at him with a cold smile every single person in the room knew then and there that he had made a big mistake. After all, Neil was the one famous for calling Trump a “badly spray tanned jello pile who needs to get a better wig and that vaguely resembles Homer Simpson, but in the worst way possible”.

With one of the most terrifying grimaces possibly ever, Neil just blinked slowly and said “Well, I’d thank you for trying to look out for me and everything but I really don’t think that I should be taking dating advice from someone who’s most famous for getting divorced by a woman after she got beaten half to death. Or someone who has been spotted on multiple occasions cheating on whoever they’re dating at the moment. Or someone who’s exes have called them ‘incapable of a functional loving relationship’. But hey, what do I know, cause according to you I’m just a cold emotionless asshole incapable of making a decision on their own.”

Needless to say, when Josten went up to his room with Minyard right behind him, there wasn’t even a cricket to be heard.

 

“Cody, shut the fuck up, Jesus Christ. I wanna hear if they’re fighting or not.”

Rachel was sitting behind the ice machine with a dealer, Cody, and a backliner, James. They were trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Minyard and Josten. The group had yet to overhear anything in the 10 minutes they had been stationed there, but they were still optimistic.

All of a sudden James whipped his head around and whispered, “Wait, y’all, I think one of them is about to leave the room, be quiet.”

Just as James had predicted, Andrew stepped out into the hall wearing an old Palmetto jersey.

“Guys, wait a sec,” Rachel whispered, “I think he has hickeys! What the fuck is happening?” 

At the same time, a little less quietly, Cody turned to the group and exclaimed, “am I the only one seeing this? That jersey does NOT say Minyard. I am so confused right now.”

“Well maybe if you STAYED QUIET we could figure out what’s going on, dipshit,” James hissed.

“Babe, what did you want again?” Andrew shouted at Neil while walking towards the vending machine. 

“I’ll just get it, knowing you you’d just get me the thing with the highest sugar content,” Neil responded from inside their hotel room, with a softness in his voice the others hadn’t heard before now.

“Is there anything wrong with that?” Andrew questioned while Neil walked out of their shared room and yup- those were definitely hickeys on Andrew’s neck, Neil had a set to match.

“God, ‘Drew, you know I love you but sometimes seeing the things you eat makes me want to divorce you,” Neil said while walking up to Andrew and wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Neil leaned in for a quick peck, whispering something unintelligible before doing so. Neil bent down to get his food from the vending machine, instinctively getting Andrew a twix bar too.

“So, babe, how long are we gonna let the team think we hate each other?” Andrew asked after collecting his candy from Neil.

“But you do hate me, remember?” Neil replied snarkily. Even when being sickening domestic he still was snarky.

“You know what I mean, asshole,” Andrew replied, acting annoyed with Neil, but anyone with common sense could tell that he wasn’t actually mad.

Neil took a moment to contemplate Andrew’s question before answering, “I think it’s funny watching them try to figure everything out.”

With that, Andrew nodded in agreement and led Neil by the hand back to their room, snacks in tow.

Cody broke everyone’s stunned silence with a few words that summed up everyone's emotions.

“What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened.”

Equally as confused, Rachel responded, trying to piece together everything. “I would’ve bet on pretty much anything other than THAT.”

“So, what do we do now? Do we tell the team?” a puzzled Cody asked, clearly not having registered what just went down as a real thing quite yet.

“Isn’t it obvious?” James replied, looking much less shaken than everyone else.

“No James, it isn’t obvious, or else we would have already said it,” Rachel retaliated.

“We learn German.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! please leave a like or a kudos if you enjoyed and find me on tumblr @minyard-and-josten


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